Electric vehicles have been existence for over 100 years, one of the pioneering European vehicles was the “electric dog-cart” designed and built be Magnus Volk of Brighton England in 1887. Since then electric vehicles have come a long way in their overall design with many advances being made in motor and battery technology to improve their performance, efficiency and range. When compared to a conventional vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine, electric vehicles are much cleaner and friendlier to the environment, whilst reducing the running costs by as much as 90%. With all of these benefits over a conventional vehicle, electric vehicles still have one problem that has been in existence since their inception; that is the long time it takes to recharge their batteries.
To refuel a conventional liquid or gas powered vehicle takes a matter of minutes, an electric vehicle however may take hours depending upon the battery type and charger specifications. In addition to the long time taken to re-fuel, there is an even simpler problem that is inherent to electric vehicles, to recharge they need an electrical supply. In built up urban areas, such as cities and the like, vehicle owners may not have a defined private parking space with a power supply in situ. This is especially apparent with high density apartment style dwellings found in most major cities.
Whilst dedicated electric vehicle recharging bays are in themselves not new, there is a need to have a regulated power supply for recharging alternatively fuelled electric cars that is located at the road side much like a parking meter. This would allow an electric vehicle owner easy access to a power supply in order to recharge their vehicle whilst it is parked. Ideally, the power supply would be unobtrusive to its surroundings and compact enough to be located on the roadside pavement.
The present invention, at least in preferred embodiments, sets out to ameliorate or overcome at least some of the above problems.